Chapter 7: Another Missing Brother

"Leo," Mikey whined, "they're not picking up."

Leo was worried. With so many Foot Bots running around, they were bound to run into the others. Leo and Mikey had made their way to the rendezvous point they had chosen before splitting up. It was on the roof of the tallest building a few blocks away from the Whitten apartment, giving them a good view of the surrounding landscape.

After they lost the Foot Bots and Dog Pound, the blue and orange ninjas tried to catch up with the van carrying Laura Whitten. It was soon obvious they weren't going to find it. They wound up at the rendezvous point when neither Raph nor Donnie answered their T-phones. They had only been waiting a couple of minutes, but Leo couldn't stand not knowing where his team was, he had a bad feeling about tonight.

"Let's look for them, they can't be far," Leo jumped down to an adjacent building but stopped short when Mikey spotted something on street level.

"Leo," he called pointing, "it's the van!"

Whipping around to where Mikey was pointing he saw the same kind of black van they saw earlier that night with four Foot Bot escorts on motorcycles, two in front and two in back.

"Let's move," Leo said, "We're not letting them get away this time."

"Let's kick some bot and save the girl!" Mikey exclaimed, running after the line of vehicles, "Booyakasha!"

They jumped from one of the lower roofs onto the top of the van. Leo dug his katanas into the roof to help stay on. Mikey swung around to the driver side and smashed the window in. He hung on as the van swerved, trying to shake him off, but Mikey's kusarigama blade sank into the driver's robotic head. The van spun to a halt as the bot powered down. One of the motorcycles slammed into the back of the van, unable to stop in time. The bike exploded, the bot didn't make it. That left three.

Leo flipped down off the roof, burying his blades into the other bot behind the van before it would extract a weapon from its metallic matrix. Two more to go, Leo thought. He ran around front to see Mikey dispatch the last of the bots.

"OOOO WAH CHA CHA," Mikey sang as his nunchaku knocked the head off the last bot. He smiled up at Leo spinning his chucks.

"Come on," Leo beckoned, "let's get the girl."

They rounded to the back of the van again. Mikey rushed over and threw open the doors. "Mikey, wait—" Leo tried to stop him. They couldn't just let a human see them out in the open like that, even if she was somehow involved with the Foot.

"Woah!" Mikey screamed as he ducked out of the way, a throwing star nearly connecting with his head. Three more Foot Bots jumped out of the van, sporting four arms, each with different weapons.

"Mikey!" Leo scolded his brother as he deflected a sickle off his katana.

"Whoops," Mikey chuckled nervously, taking out one of the bots and turning to the next.

Leo swung his swords his a series of arcs and jabs until his blades connected with steel and his opponent fell to the ground. Leo checked on Mikey, who was riding around on the last bots shoulders, shouting incomprehensible gibberish while smacking its head with his nunchucks.

Leo rolled his eyes as the bot finally deactivated and slumped to the ground. "What?" Mikey asked innocently.

"Let's just get the girl," Leo said, climbing into the van.

"Um, Leo," Mikey said, peeking inside, "I don't think that's the girl." Peering into the back of the van, the figure Leo saw made his blood run cold.

"Donnie!" Leo rushed forward. Donnie was lying on the floor unconscious, hands tied behind his back. Leo cut the bonds and sat him up against the van's wall, "Donnie . . . Donnie wake up."

"What happened, bro," Mikey whispered. His brother was covered in battle wounds, blood ran down the side of his face where the blow that knocked him out landed. A thought occurred to Mikey, "Where's Raph?"

Leo stopped shaking Donnie, his thoughts moving to his other lost brother.

"You think he got captured too?" Mikey whimpered.

"I don't know," Leo answered quietly, "let's get Donnie out of here, before more bots show up. There's certainly enough out tonight."

Donnie stirred as Leo picked him up. Mikey acted as look out as Leo jumped out of the van and they dashed to the safety of the shadows in a nearby alley. They set him down against a dumpster as he started to wake up.

"Donnie?" Leo pressed closer, "Donnie . . . Donnie, can you hear me? Wake up, come on. . . There you go."

"Leo?" Donnie groaned, as his eyes struggled to focus, "What happened?"

"Dude, you totally got captured by a bunch of Foot Bots," Mikey said.

"We caught sight of the van you were in surrounded by bots on bikes," Leo explained, "We took them out and found you in the back."

Donnie shifted his position against the dumpster, groaned in pain and reached up to grasp his pounding head. He smudged the almost dried blood from his face, "That one hit me pretty good."

"What do you remember?" Leo asked, "Do you know what happened to Raph?"

"Raph?" Donnie looked around, realizing one of his brothers was missing. "I-I don't know. We were ambushed by a bunch of Foot Bots, we tried to get away but they surrounded us in a parking lot. We managed to hold them off, but the Dog Pound showed up."

"Dog Pound? Man that guy gets around," Mikey said. Donnie looked to Leo for an explanation.

"We ran into him earlier. He must have tipped off the other soldiers to keep an eye out," Leo explained.

"They found us alright," Donnie said, inspecting some of his wounds. Some scratched, a long gash on his left arm, and possibly bruised rib, "Anyway, once Dog Pound showed up, Raph rushed straight for him, leaving me with all the bots. My staff broke and they overpowered me. Last I remember, I was on the ground and Dog Pound was standing between me and Raph, and man, did Raph look pissed. Then one of them hit me and I blacked out."

"How bad is it?" Leo asked, as Donnie winced again, holding his arm.

"I'll live," he replied.

"Can you stand?"

"I think so," Donnie started to haul himself to his feet. With Mikey's help, he managed to stand, holding his brother for support.

"Good. Where was the parking lot?" Leo asked, anxious to find his other brother.

"Down on Fourth and Weson. Look for the scrap metal," Donnie said with a small smile.

"Alright. Mikey, you find a hiding spot and stay with Donnie while I check it out."

Mikey nodded as Leo ran off down the street. "Alright D, let's play hide-n-seek."

It didn't take long for Leo to find the parking lot. It was a ways away from the rendezvous point but he spotted the first remnants of the fight a few blocks away: three or so Foot Bots lay in sparking in a side alley. From there, he simply followed the carnage his brothers left as they had tried to lose their pursuers.

Leo was amazed by the sheer number of bots on the streets tonight. His amazement only grew when he set eyes on the final battlefield. Piles of now scrap metal lay all over. In one spot, the pile was knee deep and Leo could clearly picture Raph fighting through the mess, trying to reach Donnie.

Leo kicked some bots aside, looking for a clue as to where Raph had gone . . . or been taken. Leo held onto the hope that Raph would have been smart enough to escape instead of blindly fighting, but this is Raph we're talking about. Leo knew the rage that would have built up inside Raph upon having his brother taken away, right in front of him. Leo's gut dropped when he pushed one bot over and found one of Raph's sais impaled in its chest.

Leo dislodged the sai, clenching it in his hand,"Raph . . ."

How could this happen? Leo couldn't stop the thoughts from cascading through his mind. This shouldn't have happened. I couldn't protect my team – my brothers! I've failed them. Donnie's hurt, Raph is missing . . . No! Snap out of it Leo. You're the leader, so fix it. I'll bring everyone together again. I'll bring my brother home.

The clattering of metal snapped him out of his reverie. The metallic clash setting him on edge for another bot attack, he instinctively drew one of his blades, ready to fight. He relaxed when he saw a cat skitting away from an overturned garbage can. Looking around, Leo realized how exposed he was in the middle of the empty parking lot. It was time to disappear.

Leo scaled the fire escape of a nearby building and scanned the surrounding area from the shadow of an air vent on the roof. What to do now? Look for Raph? From the looks of parking lot, the fight couldn't have ended well. There were simply too many bots on the street tonight. But what if Raph did manage to escape, and is waiting it out in a safe hiding place? Better to be safe.

Flying over the roof tops, sticking to the shadows, Leo searched the surrounding perimeter. He kept expanding his search field until he felt his T-Phone buzzing in his belt.

"Mikey," Leo answered.

"Any luck bro?"

"I found one of his sais," Leo took it out and held it in his hand, "but no sign of Raph. How's Donnie holding up?"

"Eh, he's been beaten worse," Mikey was uncharacteristically melancholy, "What do we do now Leo?"

Leo thought about the situation. Sure, finding Raph was a priority, but Raph was a tough turtle and Leo had his other brothers to worry about too. Well, when in doubt, "Let's get back to the lair. We need to tell Splinter what happened."